Police use lie detector in hunt for Moody Gardens snake

Moody Gardens workers taking lie detector tests

GALVESTON — The case of the missing bush viper took on the tone of a CSI episode Monday as investigators deepened their probe into how the poisonous reptile went missing.

Twice now, the snake has disappeared from its exhibit at Moody Gardens.

The first time it simply reappeared after a two-day search. On Friday it vanished again and has not been seen since.

Now, Galveston police want answers.

Does someone know what happened to the snake but isn't telling? And did someone tamper with a hasp on the viper's cage?

At least three employees who had contact with the bush viper will be tested on a polygraph machine, Galveston police Detective Michelle Sollenberger said Monday. Others could follow.

Polygraph test results are generally not used in court, Sollenberger said, but they can be helpful in an investigation.

"We're using that as a tool to eliminate possible suspects," she said.

In addition, police suspect that the metal hasp, which is fastened to the snake enclosure door with screws and has a loop that secures the padlock, may have been tampered with.

Sollenberger said the hasp will be checked for fingerprints.

None of the three employees who were asked to take the test has refused, she said.

"They have all been very cooperative," Sollenberger said. She declined to reveal their names.

Jerri Hamachek, Moody Gardens spokeswoman, said she was unaware of any concerns by employees about the polygraph tests.

A police polygraph operator will test employees who had contact with the snake before it went missing Friday as well as those who had contact with it before it went missing for two days last month, Sollenberger said.

The polygraph examination, which typically takes about two hours, will be administered at the Police Department, she said.

The employees who work with the exhibit are feeling stressed, Hamachek said.

"They have been dealing with this for over a month in the first instance, and now this," Hamachek said. "It's difficult for them to endure."

Officials have no explanation for why someone would steal a venomous snake, but they suspect the snake may have been aided in its two-day escape last month as well.

Although the bush viper's venom is highly poisonous, healthy adults rarely die from its bite.

The entire square-acre rain forest pyramid and its dozens of exhibits were shut down Friday while employees conducted a search that began soon after the snake was found to be missing shortly after 8:30 a.m. and lasted into the night.

The pyramid was reopened Saturday after officials said they were satisfied the snake was not inside.

The 10-inch-long bush viper shared a 6-foot-tall, 18-square-foot exhibit with two other bush vipers and three larger gaboon vipers.

The exhibit is closed, and the remaining five snakes are in a secure area, Hamachek said.

The viper first went missing July 8, and after two days it was discovered atop a screen that seals the top of the enclosure.

Moody Gardens officials had no explanation for how it got out because the exhibit appeared to be sealed and no breaches could be found.